Page 145 of Brooklyn Cupid

“I didn’t mean to upset you, Lu,” he whispers.

“It’s alright.”

“I only want to make you smile.” He presses his forehead to mine. “And hear you sing in the shower. And see you dance to crazy music.” He smiles, making my heart quiver with emotions. “And see you happy as you turn Pushkin into a brat with all his cute outfits and your attention.”

We chuckle, his warm breath grazing my face. That’s his magic, the goodness that seeps out of him, and I have a chance to have it all to myself.

“Your beautiful art will one day wow the world, Lu, trust me.”

No one has ever talked to me like this, not even Becky who believes in me.

I palm his face. “And I want you to trust me and tell me the worst, the darkest, and the most hurtful things in your past. I want to know all of you, Jace. Please, let me.”

“Lu… If you were leading me straight to death, I’d let you. I’d be like a goat heading for slaughter, happily bleeding and following you.”

I laugh, and he shuts me up with a kiss, so desperate like it’s our last day together.

“Truce?” he whispers.

I smile through tears. “Truce.”

He kisses the tip of my nose, and I’m almost breathless from this cuteness.

“How about I make a quick dinner?” I say, sniffling.

“I’ll take anything but Herring Under Fur.”

We burst out in laughter.

That’s Jace—my bounty hunter, sniper, grits-hater, and a joker.

Virgin…

I need tonotthink about that.

I kiss his cheek as he pulls me off the counter and gently sets me down on the floor.

His soft gaze is on me as I fix us a quick dinner.

“You know I went into the army to override my shitty childhood,” he says.

There he is, opening up again.

I make chicken cutlets, and he tells me about the deployment.

I chop up the tomato-cucumber salad as he tells me about his sniper record.

I boil rice as he talks about the bombings.

Steam fills up the kitchen, and I turn on the vent. It’s humming mixes with Jace’s soft voice as he tells me how his friend got blown up during a raid.

I cook.

He talks.

He tells me more about the war and how he saved Roey’s life. About the year he came back and how hard it was to reconcile the Western peace and the devastation of the war zone.

“And your current job?” I ask when he stops talking.

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